Memphis could add civil rights activist's name to park named after Confederate leader

Some City Council members think that the symbol of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Civil War General and founder of the Ku Klux Klan, is an embarrassment to the city and are trying to get Forrest Park renamed.

A granite marker that used to reside at Forrest Park now sits in a shed at the city's General Services Operations Center on the east side of Overton Park. The Sons of Confederate Veterans is trying to get the city to return the 10-foot-long marker.

Councilman Myron Lowery is proposing adding the name of Ida B. Wells, a journalist and anti-lynching crusader, to Forrest Park.

The park between Madison and Union avenues in the Medical Center is the site of the grave and statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, who served as a Confederate cavalry leader in the Civil War and as the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan white-supremacy organization.

"There will be a healthy debate on this," said Lowery. "I want to balance the name of a Confederate leader with a civil rights leader."

"I'm going to ask people to keep their emotions in check," he said. "People want to fight the Civil War again and it's not that big of a deal."

Other council members are expected to float alternate ideas for renaming the park, or multiple parks.

The council also is slated to hold the first of three readings of an ordinance establishing a sales-tax referendum.

Council members Shea Flinn and Jim Strickland proposed the referendum to raise the local sales tax by one-half percent to fund prekindergarten classes and reduce property taxes.

If approved by voters, the sales tax would increase from 9.25 to 9.75 percent, to raise an expected $47 million a year. An estimated $20 million would be used to reduce property taxes, and $27 million would go toward funding the largest prekindergarten program in the city.

The full council also will vote on proposed changes to the incentives the city offers companies to relocate or stay in Memphis. The proposed changes include asking the Memphis and Shelby County Economic Development Growth Engine to notify the public within one week of an application for an incentive, and to dedicate time at its meetings to allow members of the public to speak.

EDGE administers the payment in lieu of taxes program, or PILOT, which is the main business recruitment tool used by Memphis and Shelby County.

At Tuesday's meeting, the council also will discuss a three-year car-sharing program with Zipcar, which already operates at Rhodes College. The plan requires the city to provide eight on-street parking spaces Downtown.

"It's been successful in other large cities and I think it will be successful here," said Lowery, who is proposing the program.